


What's In a Name?

by TheSweetestTart



Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: Gen, is there seriously not a character tag for vile, whatever i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-11
Updated: 2015-08-11
Packaged: 2018-04-14 03:54:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4549314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSweetestTart/pseuds/TheSweetestTart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Vile muses to no one in particular about the unfortunate implications of the name "Vile".</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's In a Name?

**Author's Note:**

> my first posted fic, wahey. some headcanons applied, mostly just to fill holes in the backstory before MMX1.

Whoever made me had a real sick sense of humor. We'd probably get along, now that I think about it. Too bad you got killed, or whatever. Most people would probably think that being named "Vile" would lead to a lot of bullying. Those people are right. But the thing about being named something like this is that it's just your name. There's no bite to it, the venom of any insult is sucked straight out by the fact that it's just my name. I've heard people try to get snide about it, telling me that I really live up to the name-- like it's a title I earned-- that I'm really _Vile_. And I think that's a compliment, really. Anyone who doesn't live honestly ain't really living to the fullest. I'm not nice, I'm not friendly, I'm not the kind of guy that you run to in the middle of the night for comfort. I'm Vile. If I were named anything else now, it'd be false advertising. 

I wasn't always so honest to my name, though. I had to...grow into it,  a little. I stumbled out into this world thinking that I wanted to be one of the good guys, thinking that I must've been given the name Vile as some horribly ironic joke-- something that people would good-naturedly laugh about in between telling tales of my heroic deeds. It was rough going when I first joined the Maverick Hunters, all bright eyes and ideals. But I never quite fit in-- people got the idea that I must be pretty gross. Wonder why? Things looked up for me when Zero showed up. Nobody knew what to think of him-- he was even weirder than I was. Took the pressure off me. Naturally, we stuck together like glue. Turns out, we made a pretty good team in almost every respect. He was an up close charger, I was a ranged grenadier. He was reserved and thoughtful, and I wanted to charge right in.  And the one thing that truly tied us together was that we hated everyone as much as they hated us. It was us against the world.

Until _he_ showed up. Stupid blue prick, with his big green eyes and that stupid smile. Zero caught one look at him and it was all over. I was old news. Sitting in HQ during break times in the corner were the two of us usually sat, watching mutely as the only person who'd ever given me a chance decided that he liked his shiny new boytoy better. What was I supposed to do? March over and blow a hole between the little shit's eyes is what I wanted to do, but at the time, I guess I still thought I was one of the good guys. The way Zero looked at him, it made me sick. More than sick.

For the first time in my life, I felt _vile_. 

That feeling was what I held on to. It's not like I felt any real obligation to protect the people of the city-- fat lot of thanks I'd ever gotten for the times I'd protected them in the past. No, I didn't have any grand quest for redemption like Zero, or a higher calling to good like he-who-needs-to-fuck-off.  But I had that feeling-- I just thought it was jealousy, but it was more than that. It was hatred-- it was spite. And it was more liberating a feeling than I had ever felt before.  But I didn't know how to channel it, didn't know where or who to throw it at. So, I just started off into little league crime stuff. Got myself labelled Maverick eventually, but I was only thrown in jail rather than outright shut down. Zero probably felt some vague inkling of allegiance to me enough to plead my case. And so I sat there in that cell for god knows how long, until the very last person I would've expected came to bust me out. Commander Sigma decided to turn a new leaf, and I was all too happy to assist in the mayhem he had planned. Oh, I was _elated_. And I knew exactly who would be my first victim.

And, like most bad guys, my path could only lead to one end. And it figured it'd be at their hands. They really did make quite the team, in the end.

I've never had any regrets, despite it all.

My name's Vile. And I lived up to the hype.


End file.
